Should I choose 29er or 27.5+ wheels/tyres?

Hardtail with front suspension

27.5+ (just like Norco Torrent)

Then buy some 29er wheels 🙂

Neither. Get a 29+ no suspension.

Did you watch the Soho Bikes vid?

A return to the days of punctures? No thanks.

El Mariachi FTW.

Sonder Transmitter

Have got both 😆 ner, ner, ne ner ner!

Got a Cotic Solaris Mk1 and have run with standard 29er wheels for two years. Got a set of the Alpkit Rumpus 27.5+ wheels the other week and once the rubber arrived (ooh-err missus!) set them up and have been out on them this weekend. Running WTB Bridger 3.0 on the front, WTB Trailblazer 2.8 on the rear. Taking a little while to get the pressures sorted, +/- 1psi makes a big difference.

Some definite pluses and some definite minuses. On the plus side, the traction is amazing and loose rocky climbs are so much easier. If you ride a lot of rocky track like we have in the Dales then they just soak up loads of the judder and chatter you get even with tubeless 29er tyres. Heading downhill on similar loose rocky tracks they just fly, there’s no bouncing around – pick a line and it’s fine.

On the downside: anywhere near tarmac and they just soak up energy. Normally I have to coast quite a bit to let my wife keep up but last night on a fairly flat but rolling (probably 5 metre climbs at most) bit of road I had to hammer it to keep up with her.

Get a frame that can handle both and get both sets of wheels, there’ll be times you want both.

A return to the days of punctures? No thanks.

Do you ride like any of the riders in that video?
I mean really ride like them not just think you ride like them?
Do you ride the same trail as in the video and nothing else?
If not you’ll be fine.

Just buy something that can take both sizes.
That way you can have exploding wheels of death and wheels that are prone to punctures. 🙂
How many kittens have died in the making of this thread. 😥

I ride nothing like them 🙂 But… punctures? No thanks 😉

Best stay at home then Dez.
You know just in case. 😛

29×2.5/2.4 with decent casing tyres are much better than the marshmallow feeling you get with +tyres for any even remotely aggressive riding.

bontrager chupacabra 29+ = puncture central so I switched to maxxis chronicle and never had a puncture again. 🙂

DezB – Member
I ride nothing like them But… punctures? No thanks

POSTED 11 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST
singlespeedstu – Member
Best stay at home then Dez.
You know just in case.
touch wood punctures are practically a thing of the past, these guys seemed to have obliterated the tyres.
The other review from bike radar gave the 650+ lots of advert sponsored stars but also said it had rubbish tyres that punctured all the time and they were not light either. If you don’t go near rocks probably an option but apart from that buyer beware?

Is the last two weeks I’ve had one 26×4″ flat & 2 29×2.4″ flats on the same trails at the same speeds.
This conclusively proves:
A) I don’t ride like a pro
B) + is no more puncture prone than standard
C) I need to go tubeless

I need to go tubeless

I was assuming that was a given these days. Tubes are more the exception than the rule

I’ve done 1200 miles on my 29+, multiple weekends in Wales with the bike fully loaded with bikepacking gear and I’ve had zero punctures, that includes chasing my mates down trail centre runs. Look where you’re going and you won’t puncture!

Look where you’re going and you won’t puncture!

love the sentiment…
The specifics were about flimsy 27.5+ stuff – brought up specifically in 2 tests which both had them down as puncturing way too easily.

The other review from bike radar

😆

It’s like the 29er wheels explode thing all over again. 🙂

true, it was from bike radar but they also gave it many stars while saying the tyres were shit. Bit of a theme here isn’t it. The STW review wasn’t that sold on the rubber either. A few others are quoted along the lines of to make anything decent it will weigh loads so whats the point?

I just find it funny that someone that doesn’t own a 29er or a + bike is such an expert on the subject.
Like I said it’s just like the 29er bashing before people actually tried them.
Now they’re all of the Enduroz they’re for

aggressive riding.

where as before they would explode and kill you. 🙂

I hope this whole ‘b+ punctures’ thing doesn’t become a trope. I ran them over winter with no problems at all. Pro standard riders banging them competitively down a rocky black run is not a typical use case.

@OP – both are great, can you borrow and try before you buy?

I think it already has. A bit like that “I wouldn’t be seen dead on a fatbike” thing that happened before fatbikes got popular. Luddites must ludd.

As for the OP, get a frame that will take either. If you already know what 29ers are like then try the + thing for a while and make your own comparison based on your riding and your trails.

Not really. The vast majority of cyclists are still using tubes (on- and off-road).

2.8NN’s here since January, no punctures.

I like the B+, really good grip and the stiffness of the wheels and rims is good. The only place it falls down is proper mud, then I bang on the 29ers with shortys.

I’m running a Sonder Transmitter – for perspective, my ‘main’ bike is a Ragley Ti – I like the Transmitter, but it does feel like it’s defined more by its tyres than anything else about it, if that makes sense. It has amazing roll over and cushioning and flies over bumpy, rutty, staccato-type trail surfaces and also gives serious levels of grip, but it’s all about the rubber.

The pay off is that it’s a bit of a blunt weapon, not as precise as the Ragley, and a bit of a slug on climbs and initial acceleration too. Some of that’s probably the sheer width of the contact patch, some of it is LB carbon rims v WTB Scrapers.

I couldn’t really tell you what the frame rides like in compliance terms because it really is all about the tyres – with my old Mmmbop I always knew it was harsh, even with big rubber fitted, the Sonder? Who knows. I might try some stanadard 650b wheels some time.

On the tyre front, initially I had a Trailblazer 2.8 front and rear, woeful as a front tyre and the one on the back (secondhand but free) had been battered through rocks/and or low pressured to the point where the sidewalls were basically toast. I killed it on the first ride in the Peak.

I swapped the front one onto the back and fitted a 2.8 Nobby Nick on the front and so far they’ve been fine and stayed intact – no flats, no threaded sidewalls – all run tubeless on Scrapers. Also they’re quite pressure sensitive, which means you end up checking them before every ride. Then again, I’m just an average rider, so I guess it depends.

I think overall you trade off some precision and initial zip for the added grip, cushion and roll-over, though the latter you’ll get from 29″ as well.

I’m not sure how much sense that makes. I think it’s quite easy to get swept away with the novelty of the feel of the tyres initially and the 650+ grip thing is good fun, but like I said, a bit of a blunt weapon. I guess the easy solution is something that’ll be happy with both sizes and run two sets of wheels according to your mood/the terrain etc.

what happened to making the tolerances on a frame tight?
it wasnt long back that manufacturers learned that “some” mud clearance was useful
why would you buy a frame that has a load of problem solving engineering built in that you dont actually want/need (hubs/bbs)- have the frame materials become both stiffer and more compliant

tyres – seems that in the drive to make a huge tyre that actually doesnt have its own gravity, the carcass has to be thinner. We did this with lightweight xc tyres/tubes a couple of decades ago, learned the lesson (did we forget already)

it wasnt long back that manufacturers learned that “some” mud clearance was useful

Plenty of frames have limited tyre clearances. If you live in the Chiltens – as your forum profile suggests – or some other similarly godforsaken clag-fest of an area there’s a simple solution; don’t buy them… 🙂

27.5+ are brilliant, but as Whitestone mentioned, they are quite hard work on a tarmac climb.

I think @badlywireddog has got it about right.

I don’t remember it being mentioned which b+ tyre was used in the Soho.tv video but some like the Rocket Ron are definitely marked as competition only due to their weight which is around 75% of tyres like the WTB Bridger and Trailblazer.

Having ridden them at the weekend for the first time my current* thoughts are that they are good for the middle ground where you are dealing with small, high frequency chatter and loose rocky stuff but not for rides with a high proportion of tarmac or hammering down really rocky stuff. Fine for something like the jennride but not the YD300 for example.

Another arrow in your quiver.

*These views may change over time 😆

Interesting comments. I’m running 29*2.4 with 30mm internal width rims but dont have the budget to experiment with 650plus. There seems to be a bit of opinion forming now the honeymoon period for 650+ has started to ebb a little.

@scienceofficer have you looked at dropping the pressures on your 29?

I have a b+ HT (adapted 29), I’m sold on it for HT, and a 29 FS with your setup. To my mind the big win on b+ for trail riding is lower pressures (low teens) rather than contact patch, and I’m finding I can drop the FS pressures to high teens and start get some of the same benefits.

A B+ FS has just landed at our LBS and the second guy to try it ordered one, but I’m not feeling the need for it on my 29er.

The one that makes you smile the most when you ride it?

and I’m finding I can drop the FS pressures to high teens and start get some of the same benefits.

I’d advise a bit of caution with this. I ripped the front tyre off the rim landing a drop ( nothing strange or awkward about the landing) the other week which wasn’t a lot of fun. Wide dt Swiss rims and Conti apex protection tyres at 25psi in the front so nothing daft. I’ve since stopped faffing with low pressures as much and gone back up to the 30 front 35 rear I used to run for peace of mind.

eeek!

I’ve just bought a Solaris mk2 with a 3.0 nobby nic up front and trailblazer 2.8 out back. It does everything very well thus far. It’s the bike I am riding most and the bike I am riding when I’ve no idea what the day will bring. The wheels are so planted if you get the pressure correct.

They aren’t too draggy on Tarmac. They climb technical stuff with ease and are glued to the trail on descents.

Shite in deep mud though

mikewsmith – Member

true, it was from bike radar but they also gave it many stars while saying the tyres were shit

Nothing unusual about that, since you can (and inevitably will) change tyres.

Well the nice thing about most current 29er frames is that you can use either regular 29 or 27+ tyres in the same frame.

As for punctures, consumers want it all, big volume, grippy, fast rolling, light, tubeless ready and puncture resistant – something’s gotta give… That said I’ve been riding some of the lightest 29+ tyres out there (Panaracer FBN) and haven’t flatted them yet – but I ride fairly tame trails without big rocks.